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63d Congress'! 
1s< Session J 


SENATE 


J Document 
\ No. 52 


OPERATION OF PRESENT 
IMMIGRATION LAW 


A STATEMENT 

IN REGARD TO THE OPERATION OF THE 
PRESENT IMMIGRATION LAW PREPARED 
BY THE RETIRING COMMISSIONER 
GENERAL OF IMMIGRATION 



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Lvr'l J, i 


PRESENTED BY MR. LODGE 
JUNE 2, 1913.—Ordered to be printed 


WASHINGTON 

1913 

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D. OF D. 
jUN 17 1913 


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OPERATION OF PRESENT IMMIGRATION LAW. 


The present immigration law has but little effect in reducing or 
checking the great influx of aliens. In fact it scarcely excludes any 
except those who are afflicted with serious mental or physical 
defects. Indeed, if it were not for the few debarred on these grounds, 
and the occasional contract laborer, anarchist, criminal, or immoral 
person turned back, the effect of the law would be almost negligible. 
Notwithstanding the mandatory provisions of the law, it has been 
difficult in the past to deport even when the aliens are mentally or 
physically defective. It has become customary for friends or phil¬ 
anthropic societies to appeal in behalf of rejected aliens, and in 
taking such appeals little or no consideration is given to the merits 
of the cases, the desire being in any event to land the alien. The 
endeavors of all parties concerned are frequently directed toward 
persuading the department that the boards of special inquiry (com¬ 
posed in each instance of three experienced immigrant inspectors, 
who personally examine and observe the aliens and their witnesses) 
and the public health surgeons (doctors of training and experience 
whose only interest, of course, is to perform their duty) are mis¬ 
taken in their conclusions, and in the event of their failure to have 
the aliens landed, writs of habeas corpus are sought in an effort 
to have the courts set aside the decision of the administrative officers. 

During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1912, 1,033,212 aliens applied 
for admission, of whom only 1.4 per cent were excluded for all 
causes. Present indications are that for the fiscal year ending 
June 30, 1913, there will be approximately 1,375,000 applicants for 
admission and that the percentage of exclusions will not exceed that 
of the previous year. This great influx, composed largely of un¬ 
skilled laborers, undoubtedly is due largely to the activities of ticket 
agents and others, who solicit and induce aliens to migrate. 

Notwithstanding the small percentage of rejections, there are those 
who constantly criticize the Immigration Service on every conceiv¬ 
able ground, even to the extent of asserting that the law is being so 
enforced as to reduce the labor supply at a time when there is a great 
demand for labor, especially in connection with agricultural pur¬ 
suits. Much of this criticism is not honest; such as is honest is usu¬ 
ally based upon ignorance of the law and conditions. Thus those who 
say the farm-labor supply is being interfered with seem to assume 
that immigrants from southern and eastern Europe go on the farms, 
whereas practically none of them do, although they may have been 
farm laborers in their native countries. As a matter of fact, over 80 
per cent of the immigrants of to-da}' come from southern and eastern 
Europe or western Asia, and very few of these have any intention 
of performing or could be induced to perform farm work in the 



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OPERATION OF PRESENT IMMIGRATION LAW. 


United States, and in the main dependence must be had upon the 
18 or 20 per cent from northern or western Europe for the farmers’ 
labor supply, so far as it can be expected to come from overseas. 
What the bulk of these aliens do is either to enter unskilled city 
occupations or engage in common labor in manufacturing, mining, 
or construction work. As a matter of fact, our immigration is 
poorly assorted in the industrial sense, and unquestionably it is hav¬ 
ing a disastrous effect on American unskilled labor. 

It being obvious that the existing law is not sufficient to meet the 
serious situation from an economic point of view, growing out of the 
fact that about 80 per cent of our immigration is composed of aliens 
belonging to races not of the same stock as the original settlers or 
the voluntary immigration previous to 25 years ago, it would seem to 
be incumbent upon Congress to adopt an immigration measure that 
will be sufficient. 

The Burnett-Dillingham bill, passed at the last session of Congress, 
but vetoed by President Taft, was an excellent measure, not only in 
the improvements it would have effected in the administrative fea¬ 
tures of the law, but because it contained the illiteracy test, a provi¬ 
sion that would have gone a long way toward reducing the economi¬ 
cally undesirable portion of our immigration. 

Although I was in favor of the illiteracy test (and undertook to 
indorse it in my last annual report), I am not at all sure it goes far 
enough in restricting immigration of the class against which it is 
especially directed. At any rate, I am clearly of the opinion that the 
restriction of immigration of the physically, mentally, and morally 
unsound should be made more thorough, as has been repeatedly sug¬ 
gested in my annual reports. The physical standard for male aliens 
who are to do manual labor should be raised to approximate that en¬ 
forced by the Army and Navy in securing recruits. It should also be 
possible for the United States authorities to exercise a wide discre¬ 
tion with regard to the admission or rejection of large numbers of 
aliens who, for reasons existing at the time of application or in the 
locality where the aliens propose to go, would be an undesirable addi¬ 
tion to the population on economic grounds. 

However, in my opinion, the best suggestion that has yet been made 
regarding the further restriction of immigration is that recently pro¬ 
posed as a substitute for the illiteracy test; although I can see no 
reason why the illiteracy test should not be placed in the law simulta¬ 
neously with it. The suggestion in question is that the number of 
aliens of any nationality, exclusive of temporary visitors, admitted to 
the United States in any fiscal year should be required by law not to 
exceed 10 per cent of the number of persons of such nationality resi¬ 
dent in the United States at the time the next preceding census was 
taken, but the minimum number of any nationality admissible in any 
fiscal year should be not less than 5,000. It is not contemplated 
that this provision shall apply to Canada, Newfoundland, Mexico, or 
Cuba. Nationality under this plan would be determined by country 
of birth, and colonies and dependencies would be regarded as separate 
countries. If there had been admitted from any particular country 
its yearly quota, all aliens of that nationality thereafter applying 
would be rejected unless it should be shown that they were returning 
from a temporary visit, or were coming to join near relatives, or were 
members of clearly defined professional and business classes. 


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OPERATION OF PRESENT IMMIGRATION LAW. 

Analysis of the statistics of foreign population given in the last 
census and a comparison of the figures representing 10 per cent, 
respectively, of the various nationalities concerned with immigration 
statistics, showing average annual immigration for the 10 years 1903 
to 1912, inclusive, indicates some very interesting results that would 
flow from the adoption of this suggestion, and it is apparent that in 
the main the reduction in immigration that would be accomplished 
would be constituted of reductions from countries of southern and 
eastern Europe and western Asia. Thus under this plan 134,312 
Italians could come annually, while the average number per year 
during the past decade has been 207,152; from Austria-Hungary, 
167,053 could come, against an annual average for the past decade of 
219,782; from Greece, 10,128, against 20,118; from Turkey in Europe, 
5,000, against 10,832. On the other hand, 250,133 natives of Ger¬ 
many would be entitled to come annually, while the average annual 
immigration of such people during the past decade has been only 
35,139; Denmark could send 18,165, compared with 6,971 that have 
been coming; and the United Kingdom would be allowed a maximum 
of 257,353, against 95,826. 

After four and a half years’ connection with the Immigration 
Service, I feel that, while of course somewhat more could be accom¬ 
plished toward keeping out the undesirable if more money and more 
inspectors and doctors were available, no very considerable increase 
in rejections can be expected unless and until the law is materially 
improved and strengthened. I have been interested and somewhat 
amused to observe in the public press statements asserting or predict¬ 
ing that since the Immigration Service has been placed under the 
new Department of Labor the law will be much more rigidly en¬ 
forced than heretofore—suggestions which usually carry an imputa¬ 
tion of unfairness. The truth of the matter is that the maximum 
percentage of rejections possible under existing law is so small that, 
no matter what the desires of administrative officers might be, it is 
not possible materially to increase rejections. My term of service 
has covered three months of the new administration. I feel per¬ 
fectly sure that the Secretary of Labor will administer the immigra¬ 
tion law in a thorough and fair manner, and will wherever proper 
temper justice with mercy. In this connection it is interesting to 
note that the figures for the several months last past show that the 
percentage of rejections is lower than that shown for the same months 
of the previous year. 

The Immigration Service is thoroughly and efficiently organized, 
and its employees quite generally are of a very high grade and will 
compare favorably with those in any other branch of the Govern¬ 
ment service, notwithstanding they are charged with the performance 
of very difficult duties, which involve the handling of human beings 
and the application to concrete cases, often of a very complicated 
nature, of the various provisions of the laws on immigration. It 
has indeed been a great pleasure to me to be associated as commis¬ 
sioner general with an organization of such excellence, the personnel 
of which I have learned to respect and honor for their sterling 
qualities. 

Danl. J. Keefe. 


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